I ask because attendances at the semi-finals of the European showpiece at the weekend seem to suggest not.

Even the presence of the greatest back of this century and one of the best players of all-time, a certain Dan Carter, wasn’t enough to persuade people to pour through the turnstiles and witness his Racing 92 side beat Leicester Tigers in Nottingham.

It’s just 28 miles from Welford Road to the the City Ground but only a paltry 22,148 bothered to turn up, despite it being a prime-time afternoon kick-off.

Compare that to the 29,849 who showed up at the same ground 14 years ago, also on a Sunday, to watch the Llanelli club side be pipped 13-12 by Leicester.

So much for the claims of the English and French clubs when they wrested control of the Heineken Cup and the second-tier Challenge Cup away from the unions-led company European Rugby Cup.

A golden age for northern hemisphere club and regional rugby was beckoning, we were told, but about the only changes of note are that Turkish Airlines has joined previous title sponsor Heineken as an official partner and BT Sport and Bein Sports have become broadcasters.

European Professional Club Rugby, the company which was formed by the clubs, still, it seems, has much to do if it is to deliver on its pledge to make the Champions Cup bigger and better.

Carter was the superstar in Robin Hood country but the support cast wasn’t to be sniffed at either with Joe Rokocoko, Juan Imhoff, Maxime Machenaud, Manu Tuilagi, Dan Cole, Marcus Ayerza, Luke Charteris and Chris Masoe all featuring.

If that attendance was disappointing, with Leicester consistently having been the best supported club in England, it was poor at the Madejski Stadium for Saracens’ victory over Dai Young’s Wasps.

Only 16,820 were in Reading despite the presence of Maro Itoje and George Kruis, the two locks who were vital figures in England completing a Six Nations Grand Slam last month, Billy and Mako Vunipola, Owen Farrell, Chris Ashton, former Australia flanker and true world great George Smith, and one of rugby’s most devastating finishers in the electrifying Christian Wade.

So the average gate for the semi-finals was 19,482, down by nearly 50% from the 38,308 of last season, when the matches were contested by Toulon and Leinster and Clermont Auvergne and Saracens.

The 2013-14 campaign, which was the last of the ERC-promoted Heineken Cup, had an average gate of 36,492 for the last four, when Saracens hosted Clermont and Toulon faced Munster.

The peak average for the semi-finals? It came seven years ago, when three Celtic teams and Leicester were in action, with a figure of 63,210.

A record 82,208 watched Leinster beat Munster at Dublin’s Croke Park while 44,212 saw Cardiff Blues go out in a goal-kicking shoot-out following a draw with Tigers at the Millennium Stadium.

What the statistics from over the years show is that while the French and English clubs may have money than the Irish provinces, Welsh regions, the Scots and the Italians, they also need the Celts to be competing for glory if the tills are to ring more frequently.

EPCR may want to trot out excuses for the disappointingly low turn-outs at the weekend but as an organisation it needs to examine its promotional work and look long and hard at ticket prices, with fans having to pay between £35 and £60 (adults) and £17.50 to £30 (juniors).

What the figures also prove is that those who dream of a season-long European league are living in cloud cuckoo land.

Travel constraints go against it, but the killer factor is that the interest just isn’t there. Punters prefer domestic competition, certainly in France and England.

There will be the usual apologists who laud the Champions Cup on an annual basis come the end of the final in Lyon on May 14.

Deeper analysis suggests Anglo-French domination is becoming a turn-off, something the powers-that-be will ignore at their peril.